An Udi’s Cafe & Bar employee works in the kitchen behind a plate and new silverware at Denver International Airport. Metal utensils are now allowed at DIA’s post-security restaurants following approval from the Transportation Security Administration. (Kristen Leigh Painter, The Denver Post)

Passengers wanting to eat a steak after passing through security at Denver International Airport will now be able to cut it with a metal dinner knife.

DIA was granted permission, after working with the Transportation Security Administration at the end of 2012, to allow use of metal utensils at its post-security restaurants beginning in 2013.

A formal announcement has not been made, but it came to my attention Wednesday night at a ceremonial grand opening of the new Udi’s Café & Bar when customers were offered metal knives and forks to enjoy their local, artisanal fare.

“They granted us approval on the non-serrated, rounded metal knives. So we are starting to see some of the concessions transition to these,” said Stacey Stegman, spokeswoman for DIA. “It wasn’t mandatory, it was optional.”

Stegman said that some restaurants do not have dishwashers, which is why it will remain optional for the concessionaires. So far, Udi’s in concourse B and Chef Jimmy’s Bistro & Spirits in concourse A are the only restaurants to make the switch from plastic to metal.

“You will start to see more and more of these,” Stegman said. “We are excited about it because of the environmental impact of it. So we are encouraging them to go this way.”

The metal utensils are one of several recent signs that the TSA is loosening its restrictions on certain previously-prohibited items, such as pocketknives and bats that is currently being discussed by officials.

Emilie Rusch covers retail and commercial real estate for The Post. A Wisconsin native and Mizzou graduate, she moved to Colorado in 2012. Before that, she worked at a small daily newspaper in South Dakota. It's the one with Mount Rushmore.